A good album from the neglected Al Kooper, member of the great blues rock revivalist band, the Blues Project, and of course the original leader of the great jazz rock outfit, Blood, Sweat & Tears. Al released many great solo records, mixing many different musical genres, with no great commercial success. For such a talented musician and composer, it is amazing how overlooked Al Kooper is. "Championship Wrestling" is more R&B influenced than many of his other albums. Al has this to say about the album - "Originally conceived as a duet album with Jeff Baxter, it became a solo album when Baxter pulled out of duet billing at the last moment. The concept was to parade a bunch of great musicians & lead singers and make a follow-up to Super Session in the r & b realm. I was sick of reading reviews of my albums where they liked most of it, but ALWAYS took a potshot at my vocals. So Valerie Carter, Mickey Thomas and Ricky Washington came on board and did some singing that no one could criticize. This album was produced by my good buddy Bill Szymczyk of Eagles, J Geils and BB King fame, and as such, is the only solo album where I am not the producer. The opener I Wish You Would is an old Billy Boy Arnold number popularized by The Yardbirds and John Hammond Jr. This is a kinda nod to JH Jr. with some rip-roaring guitaring from Baxter & Elliott Randall (designer of this here website!) Valarie Carter cuts loose with the Candy Staton oldie I'd Rather Be An Old Man's Sweetheart and Ricky Washington powers the Chairmen Of the Board's hit Finders Keepers. Mickey Thomas does great things with a 1972 ballad I wrote called Lost Control which was also covered by Leo Sayer. Two instrumentals additionally show off a stellar cast including Vinnie Coliauta, Ed Greene and Bruce Gary on drums, Neil Stubenhaus on bass, and the Tower Of Power horn section"[http://www.alkooper.com/solo_lps.htm]

Listen to Al's "Black Koffee" album, the classic Blood, Sweat & Tears' "Child Is Father to the Man" album, and the Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills' "Super Session" album

Steely Dan Trivia:The album features Elliot Randall on rhythm guitar and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on lead, rhythm and acoustic guitar

N.B:All tracks @ 320 Kbps except B1 @ 192 Kbps. The original track had a sound glitch and was replaced with track from other source. Also, some of the tracks have abrupt endings and have been faded out using mp3Trimpro software. Your enjoyment of the album should not be spoiled too much by these actions